Beef Products Inc.(BPI) has had enough, it seems.  A lawsuit filed in a South Dakota state court 
 goes after ABC News, Inc. for defamation over its"pink slime" coverage, claiming the network damaged the company by misleading consumers into believing it is unhealthy and unsafe.

They are also going after ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer and the Departure of Agriculture microbiologist who coined the term "pink slime", claiming about 200 "false and misleading and defamatory" statements about their lean, finely textured beef.

Cameron English at PolicyMic.com has a review of Science Left Behind up.

It seems silly that in 2012, along with Bigfoot we are still having to debunk the notion that someone becomes pro-science when they vote Democrat or, even sillier, that pro-science people have a fetish for government unions.

In reality, the perception of one side being more supportive of science is simply that science media is overwhelmingly partisan and has little interest in even a pretense of journalistic standards.  Criticizing Republicans sells books and it sells pageviews, but so do articles about Nibiru and the Mayan end of the world. That doesn't make them true.

Is food safety a contentious election issue?  The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health say changes to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) have been held up in review, much like the administration did with the Keystone XL project from 2009-2011, in hopes of delaying new rules until after the November election. And they are suing over it.

Joe DiMaggio was a great player. He holds the record for hits in consecutive games (56) and he had only 8 more strikeouts than homeruns.  He also married Marilyn Monroe.  In his older days, he sold Mr. Coffee automatic drip machines on TV.

Now he is getting a coffee of his very own; Joltin' Joe, a carbonated espresso drink courtesy of AriZona, which is actually located in Long Island, NY.  Seriously, click on that link. Their site is programmed in Flash despite the fact that it pisses off 100% of people who visit sites programmed in Flash. It feels like 2004 all over again and runs as slow as you expect.

Sometimes kooky anti-science positions are academic; you have to fight against them because there is a slippery slope and social authoritarians will ban ten things if you let them ban one - because banning one is acceptance that they are 'right'.

While caloric restriction had its day in the hypothetical sun a few years ago among the 'longevity' crowd, science has remained a little more skeptical.  Interesting results in some mice weaned at birth on a starvation diet won't really be testable in humans.

A 25-year study in rhesus monkeys fed 30% less than control animals represents another setback for the notion that a simple, diet-triggered switch can slow aging. Instead, the findings suggest that genetics and dietary composition matter more for longevity than a simple calorie count.

In a Protestant country, despite claims that religion does not matter, it's still a tough cultural road for Catholics.  Almost no conversation can be had that won't end quickly with Galileo or some pederast priest. Being anti-Catholic is ingrained in history.

For more than a decade, Europe has been as anti-science as can be imagined regarding genetically modified organisms —  consumer crops that have had their genetic code altered in order to make them easier to farm.

Environmental activists have frequently responded to GM crop trials by vandalizing or destroying them, while scare stories about “Frankenfoods” have been a regular staple of the British media diet. But two developments in the last month show that Europe may be joining the science community again, while California prepares to leave it: